Are we out of the woods yet?
by mae1505
Summary: Two wars might be the same?The events of Divergent are set after the Hunger games to make Four and President Snows granddaughter Crystal the same age. In this fic Crystal is tired of the lies that surround Panem and she decides to run away. Four, to cope with the loss of Tris, leads search parties out into the wasteland. And so they meet...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **Crystal:**

They can't fool me into thinking that we live in harmony. No more rebels, no more wars, it's a lie. I know what they wanted, another Hunger Games. And I would have been in them for certain. Because I'm the granddaughter of President Snow. And what a message that would send to the capitol.

I'm Crystal Snow. I hate my name. It sounds like a prissy little fairy who has a happily ever after. That is one thing I don't have. Besides, what can you shorten Crystal to? Cryssie! That's even worse. The capitol and their stupid names, stupid fashions and alterations. They tell the districts that nobody does that anymore, but how is everyone else meant to realise that Elva Crapton got new red cat ears to match her tail and Alder Sampson dyed his skin purple instead of blue? It's all just a game.

My dad, President Evan (he doesn't want to be known as President Snow so he uses his first name), says that we should all go to school together as children. But that means that I go to school with Katniss Everdeen's daughter Willow, who, as you can imagine, shuns me. And she's the most popular girl in our high-quality sports school, so of course that means everyone else does. What about other Capitol citizens, you ask. Oh, I'm the only one. Everyday I board the warp train and go to District 4 for a day of uselessness. But not today.

Today I'm running. Getting the fuck out of Panem because, well, we can't be the only ones out there, right? Somebody else must have survived the war they all talk about. And they can tell me what happened before Panem. Because literally nobody knows, or if they do, they won't tell me. But I think they'd tell the President's daughter, wouldn't they?

7:00. I wake up, shower and eat. I get dressed into not my uniform, but a black and red jumpsuit. I'm not even going into school so why would I wear a stupid little blouse. Also, I can't be bothered to deal with Willow today. She's not a prissy little bitch, I'll give her that, but for some reason she has to beat me. And she doesn't. It makes me laugh. She sits on the table with all her friends and i just don't eat lunch because I hate seafood. I'm the outcast. No problem people, I don't want to deal with you.

9:00. The warp train. It as, as the name suggests, a high speed train that warps to different terminals along the path that goes through all 13 districts and back to the Capitol. It takes me 10 minutes to get to Four, and an hour if you want to go to Thirteen from my home. I sit in my usual seat, between strangers or names and faces I vaguely know. I have my bag over my shoulder, but no pens and books today. Today I have five water skins, various food packages, my dads gun with a lot of bullets and my crossbow. My main weapon. Loaded with darts of tracker jacker venom. I'm not playing around today.

9:30. I reach the woods. Everyone else knows I'm gone now, school started ten minutes ago. The office is probably on the phone with my parents right now. I don't care. They never really notice me anyway.

Branches snap under my feet. Nobody's out here anyway, nobody goes into the woods anymore, not with the food regimen and the free warp trains. It's not like anyone went out here anyway. I could have gone along the wood by the sea, but what's the point? This place is further away from everybody. And I like being alone.

But I'm not alone, am I? Because, yep, there's definitely someone up that tree.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **Four:**

Loss never heals. Her death is fresh in my mind every day and I can't let go of her. How am I meant to accept that she's just gone? She sacrificed everything for her brother and I'm never going to get the chance to ask her why. My memories of her might have faded but her smile is there every day and I have to fight back tears. It's never going to get easier, I know that. But what is there left of me but hope?

It's been six months since I scattered Tris across the city. We're mending our government now, slowly. There's still wars and GD rebels on the fringe but we're managing to piece together an alliance with other cities and abolish factions there. I'm now part of a group with Christina that travels around the wasteland that was once a proud country called North America. We've found a lot of ruins and sick people, and mad people.

That's the worst part, the mad people. Most just mutter and occasionally shriek but we came across a pair of two girls, an older woman and a younger one, they had white uniforms and one was carrying a sodden cracker in a bag. They were coughing up blood and one (the older woman) was raving about the Mockingjay and how they'd been captured by the Capitol but jumped out of the hovercraft. If they really had I assumed that's why most of their bones were broken or fractured. The other, she was about forty, had no tongue. We took them to a hospital and they died shortly after.

Christina and I walk to the hovercraft together. She tries to make conversation but I'm really not in the mood today. Eventually she shuts up and we sit in silence as we lift of the floor and head out over the desert. I heft my gun back over my shoulder and stare out at the wasteland beneath me. It looks appealing. We follow our usual route, which means in about half an hour we'll pass another city and then another. I like the routine. It lets me know what's about to happen so I can control it.

But we're not doing the usual route this time. We veer off before we even reach anyone else and fly straight at the Halver, a lightning storm of high speed winds that never goes away. It stretches out across the land in a huge circle, and supposedly there's enough room for a whole country in the eye. I sit up in my seat and the guy sitting next to Christina (Roger) asks our pilot Jet where the hell we're going. No response. And we're getting closer to the Halver.

I stand up and head forward to the cockpit. It's hard, the winds are starting to shake us around and I very nearly go flying. "Jet" I shake him by the shoulders "Jet! Wake up!" He just stares straight ahead and then I feel something rubbing my hand. At the same time Roger cries "The window Four!" And then we tip and shake and Jet goes flying out of said window. Another guy does too, Bailey. We're in the Halver now, and everyone's panicking, me included. "Can you fly us Four?" Alex calls out.

"Do I look like the kind of guy who can fly a plane?" I sneer back. And then I fly back into Christina as the hovercraft shoots down.

Everyone's screaming and I'm crushed behind something. I should be scared, right? I'm about to die, there's lightning and blood and ground hurtling towards us. But all I can think is 'Tris. I'm coming'


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **Crystal:**

Of all the people. Out of everyone in this fuckup of a country I get her following me. Willow Everdeen. She drops out of the tree and lands like a cat on the ground. So she's a wood rat like her mother then huh. And a criminal, that's the Mockingjays bow over her back. What annoys with themselves you can't me the most is that we're practically dressed the same (though her jumpsuit's gold instead of red). But what's she doing here?

Willow narrows her eyes at me "Seriously? Snowflake?"

"Still using our toddler pet names are we Willow?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing." I retort. Why her? Why oh why oh why! What did I do to deserve this? "No…" She murmurs. "No what?" I snap back. God it's been two minutes and I'm already sick of this bitch. "You're running away!" She shouts. "Oh my god, the President's daughter is running away! Don't you live a life of luxury Snowflake?"

This girl. "Oh right, but don't you live a life of beautiful popularity? Why would you ever leave?" I throw my arms out around me, all I wanted was to go, to leave, to be free. I did not want to meet somebody else. "My life is far from perfect." Willow practically spits at me. "Do you really believe that life in the districts is great? Everyone's becoming Capitol! Implants, alterations, everyone's so vain! You can't talk to people!" She's getting more energized, like she's needed somebody to rant at, and I'm just staring at her like, SERIOUSLY!? That's your only problem huh? You had to run away because people are vain!

"You think this a prissy little rich girl problem, huh? Well it's not. Everyone's so obsessed with themselves they never listen. They don't care about the poor children whose parents died because of god knows what. They don't care about saving money because this food isn't going to last forever. My mum is tormented by nightmares and visions of the war and she's probably the only person not altering their brain to get it fixed. Meanwhile my dad is trying to stop everyone turning all Capitol whilst trying to support a family all by himself. But oh, the Mockingjay must get money right? Well all that money goes to us, not he's left working tirelessly and never complaining and," Willow looks at me and I can see the pain in her eyes. "It's just better for everyone if I'm gone."

"Or you're just an asshole." I reply

"What! Have you not been listening Iㅡ"

"Yeah yeah you're saving the family. Fuck that. Just admit it Willow, you're tired of the responsibility that's been that's been thrust upon you. Why is so hard for people to just say I'm an asshole?"

"And you're not one?" She snorts.

"Oh no no no." I hold up my hand. "I never said that. I am an asshole Willow. Oh fuck yeah I am" I'm laughing now, like some mad person. Whatever, if it keeps her away I'll stay crazy. "I'm leaving because nobody will tell me if there's anything out there. Because I can't be bothered to be the perfect daughter everyone expects me to be." She opens her mouth but I just lean over and close it before she can speak.

"Bye bye Willow. See you in hell. It's where everyone's going eventually." I run off but I can hear her behind me. "Seriously Katniss junior. What do you want?"

"You'll never make it."

"I plan on trying."

"The woods are endless."

"All of this applies to you."

"I know." She gives me a look, like she's trying to figure me out. Good luck with that. If my mind had walls they'd be stronger than diamonds. "I'm not trying to stop you Crystal. But I'm telling you now, there's no place to go. Not beyond the woods."

"What is beyond the woods Willow?" I've stumped her there. This is what I mean, everybody just lives in the lies until they actually think to ask the questions nobody wants to hear. "Nothing." She stammers. "Just a wasteland."

"And who told you that?"

"I, Iㅡ" And we both stop. Because something just crashed. Willow shoots up a tree and I'm close behind.

Now I'm smiling. I was right. There's more to the story.

Because if there's nothing, then I ask you, where did that hovercraft come from?


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **Four:**

Everything hurts. I can't move my left arm and I can barely see. I think that's Christina spinning above me, but I'm not sure...

I can see her. Tris. She's beckoning me closer, I want to go yet I can't move. I pull so hard I think my legs are going to snap. They don't. I hear Christina talking, "Four, wake up! Tobias, come on!" I want to scream, tell her "No, let me go!" but my lips won't move and Tris is fading, falling…

There's smoke and blue sky and I think that's a tree, but it's taller than any I've seen, there's thousands of them, all flickering around and above me as somebody repeatedly stabs me in the arm…

Tris is over me, holding out her hands but I can't reach up, she's flickering and growing smaller as smoky hands pull me away despite my screaming and pleading that's only in my head because my lips still won't move…

Christina, a blurry Christina who's still a Christina all the same, is trying to hold my eyes open and there's still somebody stabbing me, I have just enough energy to think why they'd be doing that…

She's there with Will and Uriah and Tori who are all smiling though I don't much like any of them except Tris I reach out finally…

Christina's crying. "Why are you crying" I try to say, but still I won't move and there's Alex who's shaking his head, did somebody die, he is a doctor after all…

Their arms are so comforting and I'm almost there and Tris is smiling and the ground is steady, I'm coming home…

Christina stands above me and she's holding her hands like she's praying and then somebody starts shovelling mud onto me and I work it out…

The other three have left now but she's coming towards me still waiting, my legs are collapsing, I can't reach her….

I can't move to tell them no, no, I'm alive and then a crash, two blurry figures burst out of the trees…

She strokes my cheek and I'm crying now even though I'm not and everything's still not working…

I'm lying half covered in mud and blood though I have no idea whose blood it is. I'm fighting to keep my eyes open, if anybody looked they'd see the struggle but nobody's here, nobody's listening…

She's singing a child's lullaby, one of Amity that everybody sings when you're sick or dying. I'm dying and she's coming…

I can hear somebody talking but my eyes are closed and I can't open them. Somebody falls on top of me and scrambles off, then they stop…

"I'll wait for you to come out of the dreams,

Go to sleep my little moonbeam…"

The person grabs my arm…

"I'll be here watching over you…"

They feel my wrist…

"I'll wait up my whole life for you…"

They press down on my neck…

"Go to sleep…"

Somebody's screaming, why are they screaming…

"My little moonbeam." Tris is smiling, she stands up and turns away, but she looks back one last time…

I'm pulled up and stabbed and shocked and thrown about, there's sobs, screams…

"I will always love you."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Crystal:**

Willow jumps down from the tree like some kind of mutt, wouldn't that be hilarious, if Katniss Everdeen had adopted a mutt. Wishful thinking. "Where the hell are you going?" I call down. "To the hovercraft!" she yells back.

What. The. Fuck. Who just runs towards an unknown hovercraft in the middle of the woods? Apparently this girl's got more balls than I thought. So why not follow her. I could scramble down but ever since I watched the tributes to the dead from the games they show every year on Mockingjay day I resolved to learn how to move through trees silently as Rue I practised climbing. Obviously it paid off, because I easily swing infront of Willow.

"Are we close?" She yells up.

"Climb your own tree Willow!" I retort.

"Seriously! There's gonna be people on that craft, injured people, so can't you just open your selfish head for two seconds to care! Are we going the right way?"

I drop infront and just run off, because she rights and I really don't like dealing with people who yell at me. We're almost there, so I let her catch up and we burst into the smoky clearing together. This girl is sobbing and all I can think is 'Too long. Ten minutes was too long. We took too long.'

They both turn and stare. The odd thing is that they're wearing this weird blue and white uniform. The man, he's holding a shovel, why the hell is he holding a shovel, drops it and grabs his gun. Willow raises her hand and cries "No. Don't, we're here to help you! We both have medicine, right Crystal?" They both just stare, probably wondering what weird people would name their child Crystal. I've been wondering that my whole life.

"Medicine?" The girl chokes out. She turns, "Alex, medicine!" But he just shakes his head. "No medicine can help him now Christina." Then this Alex raises his gun at me, Willow screams and Christina-I-think grabs his arm. Oops, I forgot I'd grabbed one of my knifes. "Drop it." he snarls. What? This is from those ice games when everybody froze, it's a relic that I stole this morning and I'm gonna be in such deep shit for so no mate I'm not dropping it. I back up slowly towards their plane then Christina yelps and I fall backwards into the ground. Oh. That's why he was holding a shovel.

I leap up, pulling away from the bloody body yet as I do my ears briefly connect to their lips and I hear it. A faint breath. Who are these people?! I somersault out of the grave and scream at them, "This is not going to be the lie I've been uncovering! Dig him out, now, what the hell are you doing! Burying people alive!" Alex narrows his eyes like I've done something wrong but Christina just covers her mouth, her eyes shining. "Alive" she breathes, so quiet I can barely hear. She runs to the grave and pulls his lips to her ear, yeah she hears it to. Willow runs forward and grabs the nearly-dead guy's legs, however I hold my knife towards Alex. It doesn't seem right, though. Christina, she was shocked that dude was alive but Alex, he wasn't.

"What are you doing." He hisses. "I'm the doctor here, the only one who can save him!"

"Then why did you bury him alive?" I run my life along the ridge in his neck, feeling for, got it! He flinches when I touch his pressure point, so I dig in a little deeper, barely avoiding spilling his blood. "Why'd you do that then, Mr I'm the best doctor? Why'd you bury your friend alive?" He looks at me with blank eyes and in a single move pushes me down and runs into the forest. I'm about to follow him when Willow grabs my arm, "Don't Crystal! We need your help!" I huff and pull my medicine out. Very expensive medicine too, so I stab it in the guys arm without hesitation. Christina holds his hand in hers and whispers "Come on Four, don't go, not yet."

That's his name? Four? I sympathise.


End file.
